Support means for long tanks



Jan. 12, 1960 1.. T. CAMPBELL SUPPORT MEANS FOR LONG TANKS OriginalFiled Dec. 10, 1948 FIE 1- United StatesPatent 'O SUPPORT MEANS FOR LONGTANKS Louis T. Campbell, Morrisville, Pa., assignor to United StatesSteel Corporation, a corporation of New Jersey Continuation of abandonedapplication Serial No. 64,558,

December 10, 1948. This application June 12, 1956, Serial No. 590,912

2 Claims. (Cl. 2481'46) 'This ,invention relates to an improvedstructure for horizontally supporting long steel tanks and is acontinuation of my co-pending application Serial No. 64,558, filedDecember 10, 1948, and now abandoned.

Long horizontal tanks are used in many processes throughout industry.The tanks are commonly constructed of thin steel plates which arecommonly sup ported and strengthened by a series of flanged structuralmembers equally spaced along the length of the tank and extendingtransversely to it. The transverse members rest upon two or more beamsor girders which extend the length of the tank and are supported onmasonry or concrete piers. The top flanges of the transverse members arefastened to the bottom of the tank and the bottom flanges to thelongitudinal girders, so as to form a rigid structure, of which the tankis a part.

This type of construction is entirely satisfactory where the tank isused at or near room temperature. However, it has placed a limitation ontank length in those instances wherein operations must be conducted atelevated temperatures. For example, in a continuous strip picklingoperation the solution temperature is about 210 F. and the length of atank used in this process will increase as much as 0.01 inch per foot oflength as it is heated to operation temperature. To limit damage to thetank and its lining as consequence of thermal expansion (or contraction)it is the present practice to limit the length of individual tanks toabout 100 feet and where greater than 100 feet of processing length isneeded to use multiple tanks.

The use of multiple tanks is disadvantageous for a number of reasons.Their construction is more costly than that of a single unit ofcomparable length; they require greater floor space; they present agreater surface area from which heat losses can take place; and theypresent more places at which spillage can occur, thus increasingsolution losses. In the case of corrosive solutions the spillage whichoccurs between tanks shortens the life of the tanks and increasesmaintenance costs. Moreover, the expedient of limiting tank lengthreduces, but does not always avoid damage to the tank. 1 Some bucklingof the tank bottom always occurs when expansion is restrained and inpickle tanks which are commonly lined with rubber and brick, thisbuckling frequently causes damage to the lining which requires costlyrepairs.

It is accordingly an object of the presentinvention to provide animproved structure for supporting horizontal steel tanks whereby thermalexpansion or contraction can take place without damage to the tank orits related arts.

p Another object is to provide an improved support structure wherebylonger tanks can be used than was possible heretofore.

It is a further object to provide an improved substructure forhorizontally supporting an elongated structure subject to substantialchanges in length as the result of conditions attendant its use.

These and other objects will become apparent from the followingspecification when read in conjunction with the attached drawings, inwhich:

Figure l is a longitudinal cross section through a pickle tank and thesupport structure of the present invention; and

Figure 2 is a transverse cross section through the tank and its supportstructure.

Referring more particularly to the drawings the reference numeral 1refers to an open top steel tank which may be protected againstcorrosion by providing its inner surfaces'with a rubber lining 2 whichin turn may be protected against abrasion and thermally insulated fromthe solution by a bonded masonry lining 3. The tank 1 rests upon aseries of spaced-apart beams 4 which are placed transverse to the lengthof the tank. The beams 4 are preferably spaced equally along the lengthof the tank, and extend substantially the width of the tank but may beextended beyond the tank as required to give satisfactory stability tothe completed structure. The top flanges of the beams 4 are rigidlyfastened by welding, riveting or bolting to the bottom of the tank. Thetransverse beams 4 rest upon a sub-base comprised of beams or girders 5which extend substantially the length of the tank. The girders 5 aresupported by piers 6. While only two piers 6 are shown it will beunderstood that intermediate piers are provided as the needs of thedesign indicate.

The bottom flange of the center beam 4A of the series of transversebeams 4 is welded or otherwise rigidly fastened to the top flanges ofthe longitudinal girders 5. This permanently positions the center of thetank with respect to its supporting structure. The remaining transversebeams 4 are not fastened to the girders but merely rest thereon. Thisallows movement of the ends of the tank in either direction from a fixedcenter point. Thus when the tank is heated, the resulting expansion canproceed in both directions from a fixed center and is, therefore,substantially unrestrained, the transverse beams being free to creepand/or slide along the longitudinal girders. Conversely, contraction cantake place without damage to the tank or its related parts as the tankor its contents cool.

While only the center transverse beam 4A is shown as fastened to thesubstructure, in actual practice it is preferred to fasten two or threebeams on either side of the center beam. This provides greater rigidityto the whole structure and while expansion or contraction would berestrained in the portion so fastened because of the limited length ofsuch portion a total change of length is negligible, consequently damageto the tank cannot occur. We will refer to this structure in thefollowing description and in the claim as a beam, but it will beunderstood that such designation will include either a single beam or afew beams.

As previously stated the transverse beams 4 are preferably spacedequally along the length of the tank. This is not essential, in fact,for extremely long tanks it may be desirable to decrease the spacing ofthe beams toward the end portions of the tank. The exact spacing of thetransverse beams depends upon many factors in the design of the tank.The beams provide rigidity to the tank bottom and must not be spaced sofar apart as to permit sagging of the bottom nor yet so close as topresent an almost continuous area of contact with the members of thesubstructure. The latter condition would interfere with their ability tocreep or slide along the upper surfaces of the substructure and wouldthus defeat the ends of the invention. The beams should be spaced atsuch distance that the portion of tank between adjacent beams issufficiently stiif to transmit the horizontally acting forces caused byexpansion to and through the transverse 3 beams and thus cause them tomove along the substructure. For all cases ordinarily encountered inpractice, a space of about three feet, center-to-center, will besatisfactory.

While one embodiment of my invention has been shown and described itwill be apparent that other adaptations and modifications may be madewithout departing from the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. An improved elongated strip pickling tank having end Walls definingtank width, side walls defining tank length and a horizontally disposedfiat bottom, a series of longitudinally spaced members having fiat topand bottom surfaces disposed with said top surfaces immediately belowthe tank bottom to extend the width thereof and rigidly secured thereto,and a series of at least two transversely spaced members having fiat topsurfaces disposed with said surfaces immediately below the bottomsurfaces of said first mentioned series to extend substantially thelength or" said tank and rigidly secured to the bottom surface of atleast one of said first mentioned series, the bottom surfaces of theremaining members of said first mentioned series on either side of saidsecured member being unsecured to but resting directly upon said topsurfaces of said second mentioned series in movable relation thereto.

2. An elongated tank having end walls defining the tank width, sidewalls of a length which is several times the length of the end wallsdefining the tank length and a horizontally disposed substatnially fiatbottom, a series of spaced apart members having a length substantiallyequal to the tank width and top and bottom flanges separated by aconnecting web section, said members being disposed immediately belowsaid bottom of the tank at spaced intervals along the length thereof toextend substantially the width of the bottom with their flanges lying inhorizontal planes, the top flanges of said members being rigidly securedto the bottom of the tank; and a series of at least two spaced apartmembers having a length substantially equal to the length of the tankand substantially fiat support-surfaces disposed immediately below thebottom flanges of the first mentioned series of members to extendsubstantially the length of the tank with their support-surfaces facingupwardly and lying in a substantially horizontal plane;-the bottomflange of the center member of said first mentioned series of membersbeing rigidly secured to the support-surfaces of the second mentionedseries, the bottom flanges of the remaining members of said first seriesbeing unattached to and resting directly upon said support surfaces inmovable relation thereto.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS572,995 Jackson et al Dec. 15, 1896 839,942 Mansfield Jan. 1, 1907880,243 Rominger Feb. 25, 1908 1,634,084 Ruths June 28, 1927 2,226,713Folmsbee Dec. 31, 1927

